


Bees, High School and Autism

by 00100001



Category: Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Autism, Autistic Character, Books, Gen, Stim toy, Stimming, how does one tag?, tangle toy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-08-19 23:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8227895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00100001/pseuds/00100001
Summary: Ty is starting a new school and is worried that he isn't going to make any friends and that he will get bullied. Luckily he has Livvy with him.





	1. New School

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic. Any feedback would be great.

Just when Ty had felt like his school was working for him and that he was fitting in, he had to move. Livvy had been excited at the idea, she loved socialising and meeting new people. Ty did not. He had liked his old school. He know the people, he knew his way around and he understood how everything worked. Now he was going to need to make new friends and work out where all the classrooms were. He didn’t know what he would do if Livvy wasn’t coming with him.

The holidays had been great. He’d been able to forget about his new school. He had been able to spend hours researching bees and staring at bugs in the garden. He had been able to walk around all day with his headphones in without being told off. Jules had even made pipe cleaner stim toys with Ty when he wasn’t with Emma.

But as they came closer to the start of term he became more worried. There was lots of back-to-school shopping to be done so Ty and Livvy ad to spend endless amounts of time walking through loud, bright stationery stores to buy new books and pens. At least that’s what Livvy said. Ty made sure to point out that it wasn’t endless. It did end. Eventually.

\-------

The night before school started Mark helped Ty pack his bag. When Mark suggested that Ty take his earplugs the younger boy shook his head. “Why not? It can get pretty loud in the playground and I know that you don’t like loud noises. They could be useful.” Ty sighed, “I want people to think that I’m normal.” He said as he checked to make sure that he had everything that he needed in his pencil case. “Ty the idea of normal is ridiculous. Everyone is different and that’s ok. Even if no one notices that you’re autistic it’s not going to help you.” Ty knew that his brother was right but he did want to make friends so the ear plugs weren’t coming. “Take this at least.” Mark handed Ty’s favourite stim toy to him and Ty reluctantly put the tangle toy in his bag.

“Good night Ty. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. The school is nice, I think you’ll enjoy it.” Mark turned to walk towards the door. “Good night Mark.” Mark smiled as he walked back to his room and hoped that Ty wouldn’t be bullied be bullied and that he would make some good friends.

\-------

Ty’s alarm clock went off at 6:00. He got up, showered and got dressed just like he did every day. Except today was different. Today he was starting at his new school. He walked downstairs to the kitchen. Helen, Mark and Dru were at the table eating breakfast. His father was probably upstairs getting Tavvy dressed and Livvy had still been sleeping when he woke up, she always woke up late. He had no idea where Jules was. “Good morning,” he said as he poured some milk into his bowl of cereal, “does anyone know where Jules is?” Dru replied: “Yeah, Emma came by and they left early to walk together.” Helen and Mark looked at each other and tried not to laugh. “So,” Helen said, trying to pull herself together, “are you excited for your first day at your new school?” Ty didn’t reply. Instead he went and sat down next to Mark and started eating his cereal. “Don’t worry.” She said, “It’ll be fun.” Dru decided to add her opinion as well “I like school.” Ty giggle a bit. “Thanks Drusilla” “It’s good that you like school Dru” Ty turned around to see Livvy arrive in the kitchen. “Tavvy is sick.” She announced, “Where’s Jules?” Ty doubted that Helen and Mark would be able to explain without laughing so he answered Livvy’s question. “Walking to school with Emma.” Livvy raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

“What’s up with Tavvy?” Mark asked breaking the silence. “He’s just a little bit sick” Replied Livvy “but Dad needs to look after him. We’ll need to get the bus.” Ty panicked a bit. He didn’t really like the bus but that wasn’t what was bothering him so much. Dad had been going to drive them. That had been the plan.  
He felt Livvy squeeze his arm and relaxed a bit. He turned to face Mark, “What time does the bus come?” Mark pulled out his phone and checked the timetable. “7:45” “You guys had better get moving.” Helen said as she cleared her plate “You don’t want to be late on your first day. Mark, you don’t want to be in trouble on the first day back, we aren’t having a repeat of last year. I need to go now. Have a nice day, I’ll see you this afternoon” she said as she walked out the door.  
At that moment the children’s dad walked down the stairs “Have you worked out when you need to leave to get the bus?” The children nodded. “What time are you leaving? Ty looked at his watch. It was 7:25. It would take them ten minutes to get to the bus stop. “We need to leave in ten minutes.” “Ok,” his dad said “You kids get ready. Dru, one of the neighbours is going to take you later.”  
So the children began to clear their bowls and stack the dishwasher. Ty was really worried now.


	2. The playground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty and Livvy start at their new school and meet some people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Max is alive in this because I couldn't think of any other characters who would be a similar age to the twins. I'll try to think of some more but I'll probably just make up some. 
> 
> Glossary:  
> Allistic - Not autistic  
> If I've missed anything please let me know in the comments.

The bus ride was finally over. The three Blackthorn children got off the bus and walked towards the school gates. Mark waved to the twins. "See you later. Have a great day!"

Livy turned to Ty, "We should go talk to people." She couldn't wait to meet the kids at her new school. "Can't we just talk to each other?" Ty shifted uncomfortably. "It'll be alright Ty-Ty. I'll be with you." Ty grumbled at the use of the nickname but followed his sister anyway.

Livvy approached one of the many groups of students confidently and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Livvy and this is my brother Ty." Ty nodded and looked down at his shoes. His dad had wanted to get him new ones but he had refused. His older ones, the one's he was wearing, fitted really well. New shoes were always uncomfortable. The other kids started to introduce themselves. Once they were done Ty looked around the circle and he tried to recall the names and much the faces. And he got absolutely nowhere. Damn. This sucked.

He felt his sister tap him on the shoulder. "Hmm?" Livvy smiled at him "Kit was asking you a question." Ty looked around the circle, frantically trying to work out which one was Kit. "Livvy said that you liked insects. I'm interested in bgs as well." One of the boys said. Ty was glad that there was someone else at his school was interested in his special interest but then again, someone at his new school KNEW ABOUT HIS SPECIAL INTEREST. "Thanks a lot Livvy," Ty thought "So much for passing as allistic. Now I'll have to talk to Kit about insects. And not infodump. And not happy flap. Again, thanks Livvy."

Ty glared at Livvy before answering Kit. "Um, yeah, I know a bit about them." Livvy snorted, "That's an extreme under exaggeration. He knows EVERYTHING about bees and won't stop looking at beetles in the garden. He-" Ty kicked her leg lightly and glared at her again. (He was getting pretty good at glaring.)

Just then the bell went and saved everyone from the awkward moment. "What on earth are we meant to do now?" Ty thought. He didn't like the first day back at school. Even at his old school it had confused him. He never knew where to go or what to do and he felt like he should know that stuff. Luckily he had Livvy and he could follow her. (To some extent. They weren't in the same classes.)

"We need to go to the hall." Said one of the kids, "Come on, it's this way." Thanks Max" Said Livvy. Ty was impressed. He had no idea how his sister managed to remember all these names after only hearing them once, let alone match them to faces. He wished that he was able to do that.

Ty followed the others. Assembly was one of the things that weirdly appealed to Ty. He had no idea why, it just did. It did kind of suck on hot days or when he was told off for fidgeting but other than that it was kind of fun.

\-------

As soon as he stepped into the hall, Ty was surpised by the amount of people sitting on the floor of the hall. He scanned the audience to see if he could find Mark Jules or Even Emma but had no such luck.

He followed the rest of the group and sat in the group for their year level. Ty sat next to a boy from the group who had brown hair and glasses. "Is that Max?" Ty wondered. At that moment Livvy sat down next to him and turned to whisper into her brother's ear. I'm glad that we met these people, they seem really nice" Ty frowned "I don't know any of their names." He said gloomily. "Don't worry about it. Livvy said "You'll work it out eventually" She smiled encouragingly. Ty changed the subject. "Why did you tell Kit that I like bees?" Livvy sighed "It just came up in conversation, ok? He said that he'd found an interesting buy in his backyard over the holidays and I mentioned that you liked them too. It's not that big of a deal, alright?" Ty didn't seem to think that it was alright. I don't want anyone to know about my special interest, ok?" Livvy looked angry. "Come on TY. These people are lovely.They won't mind. Do what you like but hiding the fact that you're autistic isn't going to help you.

"Quiet everyone, shhh!" The twins looked to the stage at the front of the room where a teacher was trying to get everyone's attention. Not an easy task in a room full of hundreds of teenagers who just wanted to talk about their holidays. "Hello everyone! I hope you all had a relaxing holiday and are glad to be back at school." At that Ty heard the boy beside him make a noise. "As if" The brown haired boy muttered under his breath. "Welcome to our new students, I know that you're going to enjoy becoming apart of our community here at school." What community?" When the boy said that Ty began to want to ask him to keep his comments to himself, this was going to be a long assembly.

\-------

At the end of the assembly a list of classes and classrooms were read out. They would be the students' homeroom classes. Once they got there they would be given their timetables. Ty listened carefully so as to not miss his or Livvy's name. "And in classroom B12 will be Livia Blackthorn," Livvy stood up and squeezed her brother's shoulder. "I'll see you at recess" She whispered before walking out with all of the other kids in her class. Ty began to wonder how on earth he was going to find his classroom.

'B15, Tiberius Blackthorn..."


	3. Chapter 3

It turned out that B15 wasn’t that hard to find after all. He just followed the other children. He even saw Livvy’s room on the way. He was happy knowing that their classrooms were close together. He walked in and found a seat in the front row. He always sat in the front row, it helped him stay concentrated. “Hey Ty!” He looked up to see a boy sitting next to him. “Who are you?” Ty felt ridiculous asking this. He felt like he should remember this. “He’s going to find somewhere else to sit now.” Thought Ty “I’ve blown it.” But instead of moving somewhere else the boy smiled. “I’m Kit. We were talking this morning. Ty remembered him. “Oh yeah, hi!”

At that moment a teacher walked in and stood at the front of the room. “Could everyone please sit down and be quiet.” She had long brown hair and grey eyes. She was one of those teachers that didn’t really need to tell the class to be quiet. They just were. “My name is Ms Gray and I will be taking you for homeroom this year. In a moment I will call the roll and ask for volunteers to hand out timetables and locks. You may highlight your timetables but no one is to touch their lock until I say so, is that understood?” The class nodded.

\-------

Ty was struggling to set his lock. Apparently you were meant to hold the top part down while you set the code and APPARENTLY it was really easy but Ty wasn't getting it. Most of the class was done and Ty started to panic. "Do you want a hand with that? Kit asked. Ty nodded, relieved that Kit had offered to help but disappointed that he needed help and that Kit could tell. "Why don't you set the code while I push down?" Ty agreed and soon had his lock set "Thanks." He mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

Once everyone had their locks set they went out into the corridor to put their things in their lockers. While they were out there some of the other classes were doing the same thing. Ty saw Livvy and gave her a thumbs up. Livvy smiled, looking thrilled, and turned back to stacking her books.

Finally the bell went and Ty grabbed his recess and rushed into the playground. The day was going much better than he had expected. However, when he got into the playground, he couldn't work out which group was the one he and Livvy had been talking to that morning. He knew that Kit had been wearing a green jumper. Ty looked around the playground. There were a number of kids wearing clothing similar to that Kit had been wearing. "Why," He thought "has everyone chosen today to wear their green jumpers. I'll never find Kit like this." Just as the thought crossed his mind he was tapped on the shoulder and surely enough, it was Kit. "Come, we're sitting over there, under that tree." Ty smiled "Is Livvy there yet?" "No, I saw here talking to someone in the hallway. I'm sure she'll be here in a minute."

\-------

When they reached the group LIvvy still hadn't arrived. As he sat down Kit said "You remember Max and Sarah, don't you. Ty was glad that he did this. "I sat next to Max during assembly." The boy with the glasses nodded without looking up from the book he was reading.

Livvy came running over. "Hi guy! she shouted, full of energy as usual. "Hi Livvy." Ty smiled at her before turning to his food. Sarah launched into a speech about how annoying her teacher was or something like that but Ty wasn't paying attention. He was too busy watching Max. The boy rarely looked up from the book he was reading and when he did he never looked anyone in the eyes. Ty noticed this and wanted to ask Max about it but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to draw attention to himself.

"What lessons do you have today?" Livvty asked. Ty handed her a copy of his timetable. "Cool! You've got maths and then science and then English after lunch. Our homeroom teacher said that our year group has an assembly instead of last period today so you won't have to do art." Ty smiled. He loved science. Hated art.

\-------

Max had been friends with Sarah since pre-school. Even though through the years they had moved from group to group they had stayed together.

Max was excited for maths. It's not that he was good at it. (He wasn't, he really wasn't) but this year he had Sarah in his class so at least they could fail maths together.

After recess Max and Sarah grabbed their books and walked to class together. As they entered the door Sarah got all excited. "Look! Ty is in our class, let's go sit with him." Max followed Sarah and sat in between her and the new boy. He greeted Ty and pulled out the book he'd been reading earlier. If he finished it before school finished then he could return it to the library on the way home and get the next book in the series. Sarah was talking to Ty over his shoulder making it hard for Max to concentrate on the book.

\-------

The maths lesson was really boring (although Ty suspected it wouldn't have been as bad if he hadn't spent the whole lesson wondering what he would be doing in science later.) It was nice having people he knew in his class. He hadn't really spoken to Max yet but Sarah seemed really nice.

\-------

Ty rushed out to lunch, he couldn't wait to tell Livvy about his science lesson. When he finally found her he started talking a bit too fast without realising that he was doing so. "I have the best science teacher. Well maybe not the best but she is amazing. I forgot her name but she said that we'll be doing a unit later in the year on insects and small animals."

It had been Dru's turn to make lunch for that day and she had told everyone that they would be having chicken sandwiches. Ty wouldn't call it a chicken sandwich. He'd call it two pieces of bread containing something that 'may contain traces of meat'. He and Livvy tried to guess what was in it but eventually decided that it was best not to know. It didn't taste that bad anyway. Ty sat there trying to work out why people felt the need to yell so loudly. Surely if you wanted to talk to someone you'd just walk over and sit with the. Neurotypicals were a strange bunch. Ty checked his watch. 20 minutes of lunch left. "Go get your tangle toy, then you'll have something to distract you." Livvy whispered in his ear. He shook his head at her. He stood up, mumbled something about going to the bathroom and left the group.

Ty walked back to his locker and dug through his bag. He pulled out his yellow tangle toy. He sat down in front of his locker and played with it. He thought about the book he had about bees. He'd already read it dozens of times but he never got bored of it. He decided to bring it the next day and read with. It was a good way to avoid having to make conversation in a noisy playground. He was in the middle of deciding what his second favourite insect was (after bees) when he was interrupted by his twin saying his name.

\-------

Livvy waited for a break in her conversation with Kit to excuse herself and go to find her brother.

He was sitting with his tangle toy, the new one that he had ordered online during the holidays. He had been so happy because it was it was yellow, his favourite colour due to bees. She remember what she had come for.

"Tiberius Nero Blackthorn," She said, "this isn't going to work." He didn't acknowledge what she had said but asked her angrily: "What do you want?" She sat down in front of him. "You remember what I said to you earlier, this isn't going to help you. How much better would the playground have been if you taken the toy with you? No one would care." Livvy wasn't sure if she really believed this but she hoped that the kids in their group weren't going to turn out to be rude and ableist.

Ty nodded reluctantly. "Ok, I'll bring my tangle but I'm not telling anyone why and you're not either." Livvy agreed "Let's go" She said.

The rest of lunch time was a lot better. No one commented on the yellow stim toy Ty had in his hands. Max looked up from his book and stared at it for a while but no one else payed that much attention to it. Livvy smiled. She was glad that she ad met these kids.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been updating, I've had exams. I've started writing the next chapter so hopefully I can have that up next Friday.

Ty and Livvy were waiting at the bus stop when Mark ran up to them "I'm staying at the library to study and Jules is going over to Emma's house for the afternoon." Livvy nodded. "Cool, we'll tell Dad when we get home.

\-------

As it turns out the twins' dad wasn't there when they arrived home. "He went shopping." Helen explained "We were out of milk," She said "So you can't have hot chocolate." Livvy sighed and Helen shrugged. She was sitting at the dinner table studying. There was another girl sitting next to her. The girl was tall and had long, black hair. The girls had textbooks spread out over the table and many empty coffee mugs. Livvy glared at her sister. "So," Helen said, ignoring the fact that Livvy was giving her a death stare, "Tavvy is starting to feel better but he is sleeping right now so don't be too loud when you get upstairs. Where are the others." Ty turned to Livvy.   
It was evident that she wasn't going to respond so Ty answered for her. "Mark is doing homework in the library and Jules has gone over to Emma's place for the afternoon." The girl with the black hair turned to Helen. "Who's Emma?" Ty interrupted before Helen had a chance to respond. "Who are you?" Helen smiled at her younger brother. "This is my friend Aline." Aline didn't seem to pleased with the description and looked down awkwardly at her textbook. Helen turned back to her. "Emma has been friends with Jules since they were toddlers. They are inseparable, they go everywhere together. Jules has a bit of a crush on her but he won't admit it," Helen motioned towards the twins, "and these two give him a hard time for it." Aline giggled a little bit, looking less disappointed. Ty ran excitedly into the kitchen to assist Livvy in the quest for afternoon tea.

\-------

Helen smiled, she knew how tough school was for Ty and it was great to see him looking so happy after his first day at a new school, especially after how anxious he'd been that morning. The twins emerged from the kitchen with a plate of crackers each and sat down at the table across from her and Aline. Ty started telling them all about his science lesson and all the friends that he'd made that day. She was surprised to hear Aline's voice and turned her head. "Do you mean Max Lightwood?" Ty's fingers fluttered. "I'm not sure." That and "I don't know." were Ty's default responses. "He's kind of short, has brown hair, wears glasses..." Aline prompted. Ty nodded. "Yeah, that's him." Aline smiled. "Awesome, we know his brother, don't we." Helen nodded. "It's great to hear that you _both _" She said, looking at Livvy, "had a good day. You can tell me all about it later. We're going to go to the library now."__

__\-------_ _

__Ty and Livvy went upstairs and started their homework. Ty finished his science worksheet in almost no time. He looked in his diary to see what he needed to do next. "Do you want to finish the maths questions together?" Livvy nodded. Neither of them was particularly good at maths but doing it together was always better than doing it alone.  
They struggled through the questions and eventually came up with what they hoped were the correct answers. "What else do you need to do?" Ty thought about this for a moment. "I need to write a paragraph about myself for English." These sorts of things were ridiculous. What sort of things did they want to know about him? There were way to many things to fit into just one paragraph. Livvy put her hand on his shoulder. "Do you want me to help you?" Ty nodded. "If you could help me come up with some dot points then I can write it later." This was how they'd always done it. Livvy helped Ty with English. Ty helped Livvy with science._ _

__\-------_ _

__Once they were finished Ty sat down on his bed and read a book and Livvy texted some of her friends from their old school. "How was school?" The twins looked up to see a tired-looking Tavvy dressed in pyjamas in their doorway holding a teddy bear. "Great Tavvy, how are you?" Ty walked over and gave Tavvy a hug. "I missed you today." Ty smiled and stepped back. "I missed you too buddy. How are you feeling now?" Tavvy smiled. "Better, Dad told me to get you too for dinner._ _

__\-------_ _

__Helen wasn't back yet but Jules and Mark had come home while the twins were upstairs doing there homework. The dinner conversation was lively as it always was with that many children. It was especially loud on this occasion because everyone wanted to talk about how school had been. Ty was talking rather loudly to Julian about his science class. While he was nervous and didn't talk much to anyone at school except for Livvy, at home he was a lot more open and couldn't contain his excitement about the fact that they were going to be learning about insects in science this year at school._ _

__\-------_ _

__Ty's father spoke to him whilst the children were clearing the table. "I'm glad to hear that you had a good day." Ty smiled. "I'm glad that I moved, this school is great._ _

__\-------_ _

__His father and siblings were downstairs watching the final of a popular television program. Probably one about singing or cooking in which the participants tried to impress incredibly strict judges with bad hair styles. Ty was interested in such pointless pursuits. Instead he went up to his room and got his thing ready for school the next morning. It was easier than doing it in the morning when he didn't have long before he needed to leave and catch the bus.  
Ty decided that he wasn't going to tell anyone why he was wearing headphones. He didn't think that anyone in his group would mind an he suspected that Max might be autistic as well._ _

__\-------_ _

__The twins were ready to go to sleep and Ty was sitting yo in bed reading a Sherlock Holmes book when Helen poked her head around the door. "Oh good, you're not asleep yet." She walked in and sat down on the end of Livvy's bed. Ty put his bookmark in and placed the well-worn book on his bedside table. "I'm glad to hear that you two had a good day." She and Livvy spoke for a bit before Ty's twin decided that she should go to sleep. Helen agreed and turned the light off as she left the room._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism very welcome, especially from fellow neurodiverse readers.


	6. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a while but I'm on holidays now so I thought that I'd write another chapter. I'm still not sure if I want to continue with this but I'll see how it goes.

The second day of school was better than the first. Ty had science to begin with. Unfortunately, insects weren't the first topic for the year but Ty enjoyed the lesson regardless. They were learning about rocks which were, surprisingly, quite interesting. Ty made a mental note to examine Dru's pet rock when he got home and find out what type it was. The bell rang and Ty packed his pencil case slowly. His next lesson was English and he was in no rush.  
Ty walked out of his science classroom, turned right and stopped. He checked his timetable to see which room he was meant to be in for English. It then took him about two minutes to work out which way the number on the doors went, thanks to the obscure numbering system that the school used. By that point he was already late.  
He rushed into class 15 minutes late and apologised profusely. He didn't think that he was making a very good impression on his English teacher. She gave him a look and motion towards a seat in the front row. It took Ty a moment to understand that she wanted him to sit there. Ty hurried over and sat down reluctantly. It wasn't the seat that he'd been sitting in the day before and it was hard for him to concentrate on the lesson.  
By the time the bell rang for recess Ty couldn't wait to get out of the class. He deposited his books in his locker and ran out into the playground. On the way he saw Kit and the two boys walked over to the group's spot together.  
Kit seemed nice. In fact, all the kids in the group seemed nice. Ty was really enjoying his new school. So far no one had been making noises to distract him during class, poking him or calling him the r word. He smiled and sat down next to Kit under a tree. Max, Sarah and Livvy came running over and sat down next to them. Ty opened his container and took out a rice cracker.Sarah tried to start a conversation with Max about their maths homework but he shushed her and continued reading his comic book. She shook her head and took another bite out of her muesli bar. "How did you go with the questions last night?" It took Ty a minute to work out that Sarah was speaking to him. "Ah Livvy and I did them together." His mind rushed to find something to say to keep the conversation going. Something about maths? "Are the questions always this hard?" He immediately started worrying that he had said the wrong thing and wished that he hadn't said anything. He was trying to fit in. Why had he made a comment that made it so damn obvious that he was different, that he didn't understand half the things on the spreadsheet. He looked down and starting playing with the aglets on his shoelaces.. Sarah laughed a bit and Ty was worried that she was going to say something rude. " I hope not. Maths is gross." Ty breathed a sigh of relief and continued eating his recess. "I'll have you know that maths is a very intriguing subject." Ty turned to see Kit looking very offended (or was he just pretending?), Sarah rolled her eyes "As if."  
The group was silent for a moment and Max looked up from his comic book and addressed the group for the first time that morning. "Who wants to go to the library at lunch?" Ty immediately perked up at the idea. At his previous school he'd loved the library and had spent a large proportion of his time there avoiding bullies (for some reason the people who took to bullying never really took to visiting the library. Ty liked to think that a lot of the world's problems could be solved if the perpetrators had just picked up a nice book instead of trying to set of a bomb or shoot someone.) "I'll come." He said enthusiastically. Max smiled at him shyly. "Great." He said in a soft voice. Ty turned his head to look at Kit. "You won't let me say no will you? I heard that they have the new book in a series I'm reading." Ty nodded. Livvy looked at the boys, confused. "Why," She said "would you waste a lunch time in the library?" She looked over at Sarah, trying to gain support. "Tell me that you're not going, back me up here." Sarah gave Livvy a pitiful look. "I'm going too. I need to find a book for geography." Embarrassed, Livvy looked down and ate the rest of her food in silence.

\-------

Oh dear. He'd done it again. Asked a question that he was absolutely sure was perfectly harmless and upset someone again. Why did he need to say anything? Now Livvy and Ty were going to hate him. He picked up his food and walked back towards his locker without explaining to anyone, not even Sarah. He pulled out his maths books and continued on to his maths classroom. He sat down in his usual seat, he pulled out his book and started reading. He held the book open with one hand and tapped the fingers on his other hand on the desk. Izzy's boyfriend had bought it for him last week and he was thoroughly engrossed in the narrative. If he finished it quickly then he could borrow the second book in the series when he went to the library.  
At that moment the bell rang and Max sighed knowing that the room would soon be filled with people and that he'd have to wait until lunch to continue reading his book. Some of the loud popular kids had started spreading their books out along the desks to save spots for their friends. Max knew that he should speak up and save spots for Sarah and Ty but he didn't have the energy. He hoped that Sarah wouldn't be mad.

\-------

When Ty walked into his maths room with Sarah he started freaking out. His seat from the day before and for a moment he couldn't move and just stood on the spot wondering what he was going to do. It would be the second time that day that he'd been made to sit in the Wrong Seat. His day had been ruined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this turned out to be short and I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with this but we'll see.


	7. The Library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wrote another chapter. I'm on holidays at the moment so I have a lot of time on my hands.

After maths, Ty had PE. He'd always hated PE. He had no coordination what so ever. That day they had been playing dodgeball and Ty was very strategic and was sure that he was going to do well. The teachers who taught the subject rarely understood his techniques. For example, if you are uncoordinated, a slow runner and bad at throwing and catching and you are playing a game of dodgeball, the best thing you can do is stand completely still. This works because the opposing team, like a t-rex, will most likely not notice you and instead be more interested in the people actually throwing balls at them. All you then need to do is make sure that you keep a look out in case a stray ball comes your way. Unfortunately, teachers never saw it that way and would yell at him in a condescending and infantilising manner, telling him to participate. Needless to say, Ty was relieved when the bell finally went for lunch. He was exhausted from running (he actually managed to avoid most of the running and probably wouldn’t have been out of breath if he occasionally partook in the ridiculous pass time of fitness but he was still exhausted nonetheless) and from having to sit in a different seat than usual.  
He waited for most of the students to emerge from the change room before entering so that there wouldn’t be too many people. He quickly got changed and went to meet the others so he could go to the library. Sarah and Max where waiting by his locker, deep in discussion about a book series that they were interested in. As he approached they turned and waved. Ty quickly put his things away and closed his locker. “Where’s Kit?” He asked. Sarah shrugged “I’m not really sure. Max and I saw him earlier and I told him to meet us here but he hasn’t shown up yet. If he doesn’t get here soon we could just leave without him. He’ll probably just come and meet us at the library later.” Ty looked around to see if the boy was anywhere in sight. “Let’s stay for five more minutes and then go.” Sarah nodded and Max sat down on the floor and read continued to read his book. The three of them stood there awkwardly for a few minutes. Sarah touched Ty’s shoulder to try and get his attention and he flinched. “Sorry, I just wanted to know if you spoke to Livvy after recess.” Ty was confused. “No, why?” “She seemed upset at recess, I wanted to know how she was.” Ty remembered the events of that morning and suddenly felt bad about hanging out with his new friends and not Livvy.”  
“Hey!” A voice shouted. Ty turned around to see Kit running towards the group. As he got closer he slowed down and stopped at Ty’s locker, trying to catch his breath. Once he was breathing normally again he apologised. “Sorry, I got held back. Something about ‘speaking in class’ and ‘being rude to the teacher’” He made air quotation marks as he said this and Ty laughed. Kit smiled at him and Ty looked down at his shoes. “What are we waiting for?” Kit said “Let’s go to the library already.” “I’d love to but I’ve only been at the school for two days so I have no idea where we’re going.” Ty said, suddenly gaining some confidence.  
\-------  
The library was lovely. All libraries were lovely in Ty’s opinion but this one was especially nice. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the large number of books, because there were so many corners that were ideal for squishing into and reading in peace or if it was just the fun of laughing at Kit laughing at his own jokes and nearly getting thrown out by the librarian. Max sat down as soon as they arrived and continued to read the comic from earlier that day. Ty didn’t recognise the title but made a mental note to talk to Max about it later. Sarah went off to look for a desk to study at and that left Kit and Ty standing there awkwardly. “What do you want to read?” Ty thought for a moment, and then a moment longer, and soon it wasn’t so much a moment as a few hundred moments and Ty needed to come up with something to say before causing ultimate embarrassment (if he hadn’t already) “I don’t know.” Ty started mentally beating himself up. Out of all the things that he could have said, he had given that answer. An answer that didn’t answer the properly answer the question or invite the person that he was speaking with to continue the conversation. Had he learnt nothing? Kit smiled. “Have you read The Mysterious Dream books?” Ty shook his head. “I’ve read all of them, well except for the one that the library just got in. I’m hoping that nobody’s borrowed it yet. They’re really funny.” Ty followed Kit through the labyrinth of bookshelves, filled with so many books just begging to be read, and so many children who didn’t mind sitting alone in a quiet building instead of in the crowded cafeteria filled with screaming kids. Kit seemed so at home here and Ty was impressed by that, more so than he had been by the knock-knock jokes from earlier on.  
“Here you are.” Kit handed Ty a book that read ‘The Mysterious Dream’ on the front and a large number one on the spine. Ty thanked him and looked around for a corner to sit in to read it.  
\-------  
Kit walked with Ty over to the borrowing desk and talked to him about how cool the latest addition to the series was. Ty wasn’t really listening but he pretended to be deeply interested and nodded and made noises of approval where appropriate.  
The boys met up with Max and Sarah at the desk and together they walked back to the lockers. “Hey, Ty. We should add you to our group chat.” Kit nodded “Yeah. What’s your number?” He said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Max reprimanded him for having it on him during school time but Kit just laughed. He handed the phone to Ty and Ty added his number. “Cool, I’ll add you this evening.”  
\-------  
Max felt like shit. He knew that it wasn’t his fault but he somehow felt responsible. He’d upset Livvy and now she didn’t want to sit with them anymore.  
On the bright side he had finished his book and borrowed the next two in the series so that would keep him entertained over the next few days.  
\-------  
Ty looked around at the bus stop for a minute before finding Livvy. When he saw her he ran over and greeted her a little guiltily. “I’m sorry that I didn’t sit with you at lunch.” Livvy sighed “It’s ok. You’re allowed to have your own friends. Besides, some girls invited me to sit with them and they were lovely.” Livvy smiled but Ty was pretty sure that she was upset.  
They sat together on the bus but didn’t say anything. Livvy was playing on her phone and eventually Ty felt too creepy sitting there watching her so he pulled out his tangle and started twisting it around the fingers of his left hand. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it with his other hand. No texts yet. He sighed and put it away.  
\-------  
The twins walked home from the bus stop in silence. Livvy couldn’t remember the last time they had done that. They’d always hung out together and now Ty was going off and making his own friends. She knew that she should be happy for him but it was hard. She’d found some other kids to sit with but it wasn’t the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm going to do one of those texting things for the next chapter so that should be fun.


	8. Texts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, it's been ages and as much as I want to be updating regularly, I feel that that's not going to happen and I'm probably going to end up abandoning this. Ugh.  
> So I decided to do one of those texting ones. It's the first time that I've done one of these and as always feedback is much appreciated. I realise that Ty doesn't really talk much in this because that's kind of what I do when I'm in group chats (and in real life conversations now that I think of it), I just sit there and watch because often the conversation is going too fast for me to keep up with  
> Just so everyone knows:  
> K - Kit  
> T - Ty  
> M - Max  
> S - Sarah

4:30  
K - hey what's up?  
T - Ceiling?  
K - lol  
K - what are you doing  
T - Texting you.  
K - do you have much homework?  
T - Not much; I just don't want to do it.  
K - Ah, should i add you to the group chat so that we can all procrastinate together  
T - Ok

4:35  
T - Hey  
S - Hi, how's Livvy  
T - Ok  
S - I though that she might be upset after earlier  
K - anyone doing homework?  
S - nup, Max is reading a book and I am considering possibly eventually starting my maths work  
K - lol, you guys make such a cute couple  
S - shut up  
K - lol  
S - I bet you're not actually laughing  
K - lol.   
K - I do what I want. anyone free on the weekend?  
T - I'll check  
S - Yes from me  
S - and Max  
T - Yes, what day?  
K - saturday?  
S - What do you wanna do?  
M - Library?  
K - any movies people want to see?  
S - You do realise that we have an assignment due this week?  
K - yeah  
K - but like its due on thursday so i don't need to start until like 11pm wednesday  
S - You're hopeless!  
T - *it's  
K - lol  
M - We should probably work on the assignment  
T - Yeah.  
K - you people are so boring  
M - at least we start our homework more than 12 hours before it's due.  
K - lol  
S - Oh my gosh, if you do that one more time...  
K - lol

\-------

Ty put down his phone and walked upstairs. He was happy because he had plans on the weekend that didn't involve his family, that was a first (he wasn't counting kindergarten play dates). He walked upstairs and knocked on the door to their room. Livvy made a noise that could have meant anything but Ty walked in away. She was lying on her bed playing Crossy Road on her phone. "Have you done all your homework?" Livvy sighed and looked up, it was obvious that he'd caused her to get out, she shook her head and started a new round. "Are you upset about me going to the library?" At this she turned off her phone and rolled onto her side so she could face her brother. "I think it's great that you have such nice friends." she said, "I think I'll find other people to sit with." "You can still sit with us" Ty said. Livvy sat up and shook her head, "I think it's time that we make our own friends. We can still hang out together at home and on the bus and stuff. And besides, the girls that I sat with earlier were nice so I think that I'll hang with them tomorrow." Ty nodded even though he hated the idea of not sitting with Livvy at school. "Alright, as long as you don't play on your phone on the bus." "Sure thing."

\------

"Do you have anything better to be doing?" Mark was doing his homework and Ty had been watching him for the last ten minutes. "Not really." "So you've done all of your homework." "Correct" Ty said as his bounced on Mark's bed before falling onto his back. "And you don't want to watch YouTube or play games or whatever it is that you young people do with your free time." Ty sighed, "No. And you're only 16." Mark turned around to face Ty. "Is there some reason you can't watch someone else?" he said. "Jules is at Emma's, again, Aline's out, and Dru went with Dad to pick Tavvy up from daycare. And Livvy didn't sit with us at lunch today." Ty said, all in one breath. "You know that you can have other friends, right?" Ty sighed, "yeah, but we've always sat together, what if she makes cool new friends and doesn't want to talk to me anymore." "You know that won't happen, you'll still see each other all the time anyway." Ty nodded, stood up and wandered out of the room and Mark turned back to his work.

\-------

They had just finished dinner and Ty didn't want to go to sleep just yet. His phone buzzed and he smiled when he saw that it was a message from Kit.  
K- you doing anything  
T- Yes  
K - what?  
T - Reading.  
K - what are you reading?  
T - A book.  
K - no shit  
T - I could have been reading a fashion magazine for all you know.  
K - have you ever read a fashion magazine?  
T- No but you didn't know that.  
K -Mm... judging from the clothes you wear I'm guessing you follow Sarah's method of getting dressed - pull the first thing you see out of the drawer  
T - Is that a problem?  
K - no, you look good whatever you wear.  
Ty paused a moment before replying  
T - Thanks.  
K - So, now that we've crossed out fashion advice, can I guess what you're reading  
T - Ok.  
K - is it fiction  
T - Nup  
K - ooh, smart kid.  
T - not really  
K - hmm, you're reading a non-fiction book for leisure, definitely a smart kid.  
T - I am such a nerd  
K - lel  
K - is it about history stuffs  
T - perhaps  
K - we've abandoned the capital letters i see  
T - Not quite yet. I'm saving them for winter.  
K - lol  
K - you're funny  
K - so, i'm guessing it's not history, is it about animals?  
T - perhaps  
K- you are impossible, i give up  
T - lol  
K - haha, so what are you reading about?  
T - bees  
K - and birds? or just bees  
T - you are impossible I give up  
K - lol  
K - so tell me about bees  
T - Worker honey bees are female, live for about 6 weeks and do all the work.  
K - most interesting, I have never before met an insect enthusiast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the bee fact came from here: http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-bee-facts.html
> 
> Last year I started writing a story with an autistic protagonist who lived on a spaceship in a sort of diary format and I've been considering starting it again and posting it here. If you'd be interested in reading it then let me know!


End file.
